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Dominant Siamese twin made sister submit to operation

AN ACRIMONIOUS row has broken out over claims that the more dominant of the Iranian Siamese twins who died last week may have bullied her sister into the fatal attempt to separate them by surgery.

The claims were made by the adoptive family of Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29, who underwent 53 hours of surgery at the Raffles hospital in Singapore.

Alireza Safaian, a doctor who adopted the twins, has stridently accused the surgical team of killing the women. He and his natural daughter said Ladan, the more forceful of the two, pressured Laleh into accepting the operation even though the surgeons gave them only a 50% chance of survival.

“When they were living with us they had eventually come to terms with their predicament and decided they did not want separation,” said Safaian, who recently saw his adoption of the twins annulled. “Even when she was already in Singapore,